Hello, welcome to the broadcast. We call it plain and simple. We're looking in the life of Joseph. Stay tuned for our message today. Well, we're looking at the life of Joseph. We read in Genesis 37 and verse number two, that the story begins, Joseph was 17 years old. Joseph is mentioned 63 times in the Bible, 54 times in the book of Genesis alone. He's mentioned four times in the New Testament, but that's not this Joseph. This is the husband of Mary. We do read in Exodus chapter one and verse number six, and Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation. And so we have the story of Joseph. It starts out here when he is 17 years old. And then by the time we get to the next book, Exodus 1 and 6, it says Joseph died. Someone has said that you can look at your life in any cemetery. You look at a tombstone and you'll see a small dash between two dates. And that's what life is all about. The Bible calls it a vapor. What kind of vapor trail are you leaving? This little 17-year-old boy, he left a tremendous, tremendous vapor trail. But we read in Exodus 1 and 6, and Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. So all the people we're going to be talking about In this book here, Joseph and his brothers and all the rest of them, they died. The Bible says it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. We don't like to talk about that, but it's going to happen to you. It's going to happen to me, unless of course the Lord comes and those of us who are Christians are raptured out of this world. I would rather have the upper taker than the undertaker. But in any event, whatever happens, it's a great thing to know that You know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and you can lay your head on your pillow at night knowing that God is in charge of everything. Well, that's the kind of attitude that Joseph had. And I want to go back and just do a little bit of a review on his life, a bit of a backgrounder. We read in Genesis chapter 30 verse number 23 and 24 that she conceived and bear a son and said God has taken away my reproach and she called his name Joseph and said the Lord shall add to me Another son. Well, the word add occurs here for the first time in the Word of God. Also, the name Joseph means Jehovah has added. We will see through this study that the young man named Joseph, although only 17 years old, gave all diligence to add the things that needed to be added to his life. In 2 Peter 1, verses 5-9, we saw this in a previous broadcast, Peter said, and beside this giving all diligence, that's what Joseph did, add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue knowledge, and to your knowledge temperance, and to your temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off." Well, Joseph, he had the desire to get close to God. He gave all diligence to add these things to his life. We see the virtue of Joseph as he rejected Potiphar's wife's advances. We see his knowledge when he had the ability to discern the meaning of dreams for the butler and the baker as well as for pharaoh we see that his temperance or self-control during all of his trials and we see his patience as he went on year after year after year going through circumstances that would cause many of us to quit we see his godliness in the testimony of pharaoh when he said in genesis 41 and 38 can we find such a one as this a man whom the spirit of god is we see his brotherly kindness with his brothers and not only that but his love, or as it's called here in this portion of Scripture, charity. It comes from the same word that is often translated love in the New Testament. And charity, the difference between just plain love and charity, well, a husband and wife, they love one another, they get something in return. They love one another and get love back. Well, if you said charity, if you send some money off to some third world country where someone's starving to death, you're not getting anything back. You're just giving to someone because you want to give. And that's exactly the kind of love that Joseph has for his brothers. He didn't get anything back from them except abuse, but he loved them. So as a teenager, Joseph gave all diligence to add these things to his faith. Diligence is a careful and a persistent effort to do something. and this young teenager did that. Well, in Genesis chapter 37, verse 1, we read, And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. Now, the story of Joseph begins with a focus on the fact that he dwelt with his father Jacob in the land where they were strangers. A stranger is a person who is not known in a particular place or community. A stranger is a person who does not have close associations with the people around him. Now, all who determine to sincerely walk the way the Lord tells us to walk in this wicked world will always be considered strangers. You won't have to worry about standing separate. They'll just separate you. They don't want much to do with you if you're going to stand for the Lord. The Bible says Moses was a stranger in the land of Midian in Acts 7 and 29. The Bible says in Psalm 69 and 8, David said, I am a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. Well, that text certainly was a reality in the life of Joseph. In verse two of that chapter, it says, these are the generations of Jacob Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilphah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report." Now, as the story begins, Joseph is 17 years old. He is a shepherd working with two of his brothers who were the sons of the handmaids of Rachel and Leah. These boys were near the same age of Joseph and probably more tolerant of Joseph than the rest of his brothers were. Maybe this is why Jacob put Joseph with those two boys rather than with the rest. Now Joseph was loved and hated. He was favored by his father and abused by his brothers. However, throughout his 110-year life, he kept his focus on the things that were eternal rather than the things that are temporal. Being constantly persecuted, he did not become bitter, and then when he had prosperity in the palace, it did not cause him to change his focus on the things that were eternal. As a teenager, Joseph was in touch with God, and as a result, the sins of his brothers, which were many, were very sensitive to him. Therefore, we read that Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now, we're not told what that evil report consisted of. However, we do know that Joseph's brothers were very wicked, and Joseph saw a lot of evil things that he could certainly report to his father because he was very sensitive to the things that were evil. The things that were evil were repulsive to him. Well, in verse three, we read now Israel. Now that, of course, Jacob, his name has been changed to Israel. He loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Now, few things in this world are as delightful as a teenager who is in touch with God. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Jacob favored Joseph over all the rest. I don't know. The quote Joseph received from his father signified a position of favor and standing and even the birthright. The ancient Hebrew phrase for a tunic of many colors is that it was a garment extending all the way down to the wrists and ankles as opposed to the shorter ones. It was a garment of someone with a special position and a special privilege. These tunics were made especially for a chieftain or for the head of a clan They were worn by an heir, and although Reuben was the eldest of the twelve sons of Jacob, he was disqualified concerning receiving the birthright of the firstborn because of his affair with Jacob's concubine that is recorded in Genesis 35 verse number 22. Joseph, who was the eldest son of Rachel, was the son that Jacob chose to receive the birthright when Jacob died. Therefore, we read his brothers hated him. He was hated without a cause. Both Joseph and Jesus were hated without a cause. There's probably more than a hundred ways that Joseph was a type of Christ. Let me just list a few of them for you here. We read that Joseph was loved by his father in a special way, Genesis 37 and 3. God said that Jesus concerning him, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, Matthew 3 17. Joseph's brothers did not believe him, and they hated him." Genesis 37, 4. The Jews did not believe in Christ. John 7 of 5 says they hated him. John 15, 24 says the same. Joseph's brothers rejected his right to rule. Genesis 37 and 8. The Jewish leader said, We will not have this man reign over us. Luke 19, verse 14. Joseph's brothers conspired against him. Genesis 37, 23. And of course, we read in Matthew 27 and 1 and many other places, they took counsel against Jesus to kill him. In Genesis 37, 23, we read they stripped Joseph of his garments. They did the same with Jesus when they crucified him. You remember, he had a special coat that had no seams in it, and they gambled for it. Joseph had a special code God planned the sufferings of Joseph in advance to save many people it says in Genesis 15 verse 21 God planned it all we read in John 3 16 God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son whosoever believeth in him should not perish and but have everlasting life." And then we could go on. That's just five. We could probably come up with a hundred easily of things where Joseph was a type of Christ. Well, in verse four of our chapter here, we read, And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Isaiah 53 3 says that jesus was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief in genesis 49 23 we read that joseph it says the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him joseph was rejected by his brothers however he has left us an example on how to deal with rejection We read in verse 4 that his own brothers hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. He had no fellowship with them or with anybody else in the world. As a 17-year-old boy, Joseph found his fellowship with God. His family rejected him. His mother was dead at this time. He was completely alone, and he found that while all others rejected him, he found the truth of the promise of God when he said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13 verse 5. Rejection for Joseph was not a stumbling block. It was a stepping stone. The dictionary says a stepping stone is an undertaking or event that helps someone to make progress toward a specific goal. For Joseph, the purpose of God was stronger than his desire for the approval of people, His rejection by those who did not want to walk with God was simply a confirmation that he was on the right path. And so if you're gonna live for the Lord, expect rejection. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, 12, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So Joseph's brothers hated him, they rejected him, and we read in verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream And he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Here I pray this dream which I have dreamed. For behold, he said, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheave arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheave stood round about and made obeisance to my sheave. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream. And he told his brethren and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me and he told his father and to his brethren and his father rebuked him and said unto him what is this dream that thou hast dreamed shall i and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth well jesus said if you are of the world the world would love his own because you're not of the world Therefore the world hateth you, and they hated him without a cause, and they hated Joseph without a cause." Well, we're out of time. We'll have to continue here tomorrow. Be sure and tune in the broadcast. We'll try to make it plain, and we'll try to make it simple.